Tuesday, April 28, 2009

hey you kids who kept asking for 'more bangers', are you still out there? i know i've let you down but you know how it is, hardly anything exciting around lately. the whole distortion sound is going down the drain, most of the fidget tunes rely on detuned clownstep basslines, the tunes just don't work and no one really comes up with anything original either. thank god there's sharkslayer, consisting of top billin's very own nenis and dj pushups.

their recent remix for 'boom riddim' by rico tubbs is one of the few harder tunes that i've heard in the past months that is totally blowing me away! if this doesn't get the crowd moving, nothing will! sharkslayer deliver one of this month's hottest club bangers, hands down!

Monday, April 27, 2009

recently, i find myself diggin' in the crates over at junodownload more and more often, looking out for new music that's not made by the usual suspects that get blogged to death by everyone else. after mainly doing research in the dubstep area on there lately, as the sun comes out more and more i am now on the hunt for more uplifting and melodic disco and electro tunes and eventually came across something truly wonderful.

cinnamon chasers is the solo project of russ davies, nephew and son of ray davies and dave davies respectively, two founding members of the kinks. hot on the heels of legends such as giorgio moroder, vangelis and jean michel jarre as well as current synth wizards along the lines of alan braxe and junior boys, the london-based producer creates "a perfect blend of crisp electronics, pop based song structure and melodies with an 'indie' feel".

popular fans of cinnamon chasers include faze action and lifelike. less popular fans include myself, as i have listened to the beautiful uptempo dreamy melodic epic 'luv deluxe' 40 times in a row at work last week. and amazingly, now you can do the same!

i wonder how long it will take until people will finally recognize the greatness of eli escobar, passionate club dj and producer from new york. i always digged his productions but his rework of 'should let you go' released by our friends from top billin that we posted last summer totally blew me away.

while a lot of people out there claim to be 'disco', they'll never get as close as eli escobar with his carefully crafted 80s disco boogie sound. his stellar remix of the stevie nicks classic 'stand back' just proves this again. pick up the vinyl over at turntable lab.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

after their incredible 'flight school' (available here)mix, sparkle motion (dj yoda and tobes from spine magazine) are back with another marvelous mixtape named 'new jack city vol. 1'. while 'flight school' was all about 80s r&b breaks, their new mix is "taking things forward a few years to the days of hi-top fades, parachute pants and doing 'the running man'. think bobby brown cruising for chicks in a 1989 testarossa, and mike tyson riding shotgun with a white baby tiger on his lap".

'new jack city vol. 1' is a precious document of a long forgotten era in music, an entertaining bite-sized lesson in music history served as a dope summer cruising soundtrack. absolutely recommended for both all the youngsters and old schoolers out there, if we had a 'mix of the month' section, this would be it, same as 'flight school vol. 1', sparkle motion take the crown for the second time in a row!

sparkle motion are still operating under the radar without a dedicated myspace or website, so we'll just have to stay tuned for their next wholetrain rolling out of the yard for us all to admire.

and i need to add that i'd be excited to hear some of your thoughts regarding the relevance of the 'new jack era' in today's music. seems like there's not a lot left of the vibe, signature crooning and breakbeats around in popular music these days. i'd be ready for a comeback, what about you?

consistency is crucial nowadays when making music. joe and will ask? have been one of the few consistent groups to crank out solid work while simultaneously honing in on and refining their own sound. already gearing up for the release of their second ep, the two brits have already garnered the respect and regular play from some major dj's in the scene. each time i go back to their myspace, there are more videos and more press coverage and more hype. this track was specially concocted for their fabric dj set on the first of may. if you're in london, you definitely don't want to miss them.

the guys channel simian mobile disco on this one. and i only say that with the implication that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. it's bouncy and filled with dramatic crescendos that ends the way it begins - with simplistic perfection.

Friday, April 24, 2009

(edited by aleks: i totally left miss toats hanging with this, she finished this interview off some time in march and due to my slacking, it's only up here now. so if you want to bitch about anything, blame it on me. or even better: don't bitch at all, just enjoy another great interview on discodust!)

i finally got to sit down with sasha from in flagranti as he was passing through town to chat about the fuel that keeps his group going. him and his parter, alex, have written their own rule book for musical success which ultimately doesn't make them play by any rules at all.

'brash and vulgar' was released march 20th on codek records. don't forget to check out the label website to watch the backlog of amazing vintage footage paired with the sweet sounds of in flagranti.

miss toats: i've never seen you guys play live. i know you've had vocalists perform with you and you've dabbled with synths, but what will your show look like tonite?

sasha (in flagranti): what i'm doing is dj'ing with my own loops in ableton live. basically i use all my music making tools and elements of songs that i've already made and just shuffle them around and layer them different ways. in the end it will sound like i'm djing, but i'm making up tracks as i go. each set sounds different from the last. i actually discover new things each time i play. that usually inspires me to try new things and i end up making more tracks when i get home.

so what happened to the live performers? it seems to be a more entertaining medium and almost a lost art in this scene.

ya, my goal is to have more of a live show, but it's hard financially. it's just not economical right now to bring a vocalist and drummer. when i go to europe in march, i'll be live with alex. he'll have a keyboard and he'll control the visuals. we want it to coincide with the music, just like our videos do.

yes, i've noticed how much your graphics really contribute to your whole aesthetic. i find myself looking forward to the vintage footage almost as much as i look forward to the new music.

the video is almost an explanation for the music. you might initially hear a song and not 'get it' but after seeing the images, it just makes sense. if we could manage to get it working live, we'd do the images. but those images are part of us, too. like my stepdad had those magazines and we'd love to look at them back then.

that's something that alot of people don't do much of. sure, they might make a music video, but they don't have strong visuals attached to each and every song. and alex seems to only use a small portion of footage, but cuts it up and loops it in a way that's visually appealing.

the music is the same way. hip hop first introduced sampling and looping. in a way it's the same technique. you find one part that you like and mess with it - cut/paste, extend, loop, etc.

so do you have to get a lot of samples cleared for your original tracks?

the stuff that's obvious we don't put on our album. i don't sample stuff like james brown or michael jackson. you probably won't recognize what we use. if i walk home and there's a stack of records in the garbage and i find some shit that i like, i'll probably use it. to me, it's a freebie and i don't care about who has the copyright. i'm not going to take the whole melody so you know where i took it from. i'll use it to mess around with. i'll take a drum kick that's half a bar long, so its a bit different. i mean find someone who can tell me 'oh i know he took that kick from that song' and then we'll have something to talk about.

it's funny because it kind of turns into a game for some people. they love searching and discovering the original material and incorporate it into their dj sets. i still enjoy watching the videos from your first full length album. since then you've mostly just released ep's, but i know you're just about to release your next full length. has your philosophy changed seeing as how the music market has changed?

i guess no one really knows how it's going to evolve. i have a feeling that this is going to be our last full-length. people can pick and choose which tracks they want to purchase digitally, so there's really no benefit to putting out twelve tracks at once anymore.

i suppose you are playing by your own rules. you should because you are cultivating your own sound and operating kind of as your own entity. touring in such a blog house-filled world, what cities have you gotten the best responses?

definitely more in europe than america. i have also played a few really nice parties in america thrown by people who understand our music and what we're trying to do. we end up being really well received. i think in europe, the mainstream may be even a bit more in tune with what we do. here, the mainstream and us are worlds apart. people still throw good parties here. the rhonda party here in los angeles is the perfect example of a party where everything is right. it was perfect from the first record i put on to the last one. it's probably the best party i've ever done. in europe, belgium seems to be on top of music.

maybe soulwax has just cultivated them into music connaisseurs. it's such a weird time in music right now. the harder blog house isn't generating as much steam any more, and disco is starting to pick up. where do you guys feel that you fit in the mix with all of this?

i'm not quite sure, but i'm not only interested in disco. i like punk. i like rock. i'm not going to be doing disco until i die. to be honest, i'm kind of taking advantage of the resurgance of disco. i went disco dancing when i was 13, so if people want to do it again, let's do it again. i can adapt. as long as there is a fair amount of girls, and a good vibe, i can cope. i just need substance.

with your own style of production and musical taste, who do you consider your peers these days? todd terje? riton? holy ghost?

all of them. i admire them, i just don't follow any of them. i still follow the old stuff. i keep in touch with people that keep in touch with me. i can't speak for alex, but for me it's definitely all the old stuff i grew up with. i go back and get inspiration from that. i still am amazed when i find an old vinyl from the 70's that i've never heard of. the digging never stops.

where do you normally dig?

i dont dig anymore. that stopped maybe 5-6 years ago. there's a thrift store in greenepoint that has a million records with incredible music in there. i just can't stay for too long because i'm allergic to dust. so i leave the digging up to alex.

so what's your fantasy party setting to play in?

the best for me is if i don't know anyone because then i can really party. i can go crazy and don't have to worry about what people see me do.

note that this file is encoded in 192 kbps as opposed to the lower quality versions on most other blogs where this has been posted before. stay tuned for more heat from jokers of the scene, they've got a big remix coming up for rob threezy, scheduled for release on nightshifters which you can hear on their new mixtape, featured over at our friends from discobelle.
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Thursday, April 23, 2009

does the united kingdom ever run out of amazing new artists? guess not, as another big track is coming your way out of nowhere. sheffield-based 'popfunk' duo shake aletti are blending the catchy pop of hot chip with the p-funk you kids probably only know from chromeo, ending up with what should be a number one song on the charts in a better world. in discodust world, they are right on top for tonight.

the lyrics alone - "that's just the way that he does it, girl. you're gonna have to get used to that" should have the 'big things ahead' alarm bells ringing when 'the way he does' kicks off and the same obviously happened to toddla t as he provided a hard hitting remix with his signature driving percussions and distorted deep frequencies for those who always need some more bass, assuring that no upcoming summer season party will be safe from this tune! choose your flavour, shake aletti are giving both tracks away (in 320 kbps) for our enjoyment, so get them already!

if these guys don't end up with a deal soon, i will stop drinking. forever. and you know what that means! so head over to the shake aletti myspace and show them love! (and besides that, everyone keeps talking about how awesome the upcoming toddla t album is, so don't miss that either!)
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remember when we first introduced you to a young producer from leeds named grum over a year ago? well, things have been working out great for him, his first single 'runaway' is out on all new label heartbeats, getting heavy support from all the radio key players from annie mac to jaymo & andy george. if you haven't heard 'runaway' yet, head over to beatport.

today we've got an all new grum remix for 'skeleton boy' by friendly fires for you which did not make the deadline for the actual release but is just so damn good that you'll have to hear it - to me it seems like every new grum track is more catchy, more driving, more crossover, yet more awesome than the one before, he just keeps getting better! fans of the remix include the likes of alan braxe, filthy dukes and alex metric.

the whole package should be released some time this summer and some heavy remixes are already in the works. (aleks hijackin' this post now) and just in case ellie goulding is all new to you, here is some more of her wonderful work: the sam sparro cover 'black & gold', the frankmusik produced 'wish i stayed' and the just plain beautiful 'guns & horses'.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

switzerland's finest wildlife! applied his magic touch to french-finnish pop duo the dø, delivering a tropical-riddim-driven heavy bass banger which will definitely show up in the playlists of leading cutting edge disc jockeys, starting today!

discodust favorites parallels are back with a new remix for detachments. of course it's as good as ever and i've had this on repeat for large parts of the weekend, hesitant to blog it because it was only up on rcrd lbl (holding on to it too tight kills music) though but finally got the 'good to go' today. so check another retro-electro flavoured disco stormer right here, 320 kbps for all you audiophiliacs.

well, i'm presuming that mikix has birthed an alter ego as an outlet for some of his other more parisian-styled productions. he has an upcoming remix for douster coming out on my favorite up and coming label of the moment, sound pellegrino (institubes sub-label headed up by teki latex and dj orgasmic). can you think of any other institubes related producer that so suavely pulled this off? his name is escaping me at the moment. i think his name rhymes with 'purses' or 'murses'. ah, oh well.

expect big things from mikix in the future. he's yet another producer whose tracks are in limbo awaiting the final say from a few labels as to their destiny. his "movin' around" ep is out now on trouble and bass and you can sneak peek below. you can also hear what momma's boy is up to on his mixtape below as he's injected a few original tracks into it.

rehab, detox, relapse. looks like i am back from the dead again. and could there be anything better for a comeback than the very first real leak from the heavily anticipated major lazer album (that everyone else put up two days ago). featuring the vocal talent of santigold and mr. lexx along with diplo and switch on the beat, 'hold the line' is destined to be one of this summer's true beepers, err, bangers!

Monday, April 13, 2009

bradley, dj from new york's famous friends and daniel, singer/songwriter from chicago are flashmen. going by the name and the wonderful artwork they commissioned from the zonders, you can probably guess what they are up to: a sci-fi-riffic blend of teenage memories and futuristic funk. and if you think you have heard it all before: no! no! no! definitely not!

flashmen sent over two tracks for their debut blog appearance and seriously, it couldn't be any better. the driving arpeggiated bassline, lazer string hits and daniel's great vocals in 'little wildkat' are supported by some of the best use of horns that i have heard in ages, reminding me of eighties new wave hits. the whole combination should also make this track attractive for people who are hardcore into dfa records or regular listeners of beats in space.

the second track 'flashmen theme' (which should probably have been the first in this post but yeah, i can't ever do anything right) is a more playful and melodic affair from the world of spaceships, leisure suits and martini-sippin' - this time featuring bradley on the vocals, showing the more vulnerable side of flashmen, asking 'can you feel it in the air?'. i definitely can!

having these tracks for a while and still being heavily addicted to both of them, i am glad flashmen are finally getting their name out there because they are definitely one of my favorite new acts and i expect big things to come from them and will definitely keep you posted. become a friend on myspace and follow flashmen on twitter.
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johnny jewel, the mastermind behind italians do it better, chromatics, glass candy has recently left his hometown portland for montreal where he met singer megan louise, leading to his latest project 'desire'. megan sings in french and english and johnny's stays true to his signature disco-noir production style while i'd describe the currently leaked songs as a bit more playful and lighter than chromatics - and very catchy!

gudren wolf put up all tracks from the five-track cd that desire gave away on saturday's show in portland where they opened for glass candy. i had a real hard time deciding what to post and as i am a big fan of everything that johnny jewel puts out, love all the tracks on this and want desire to be heard, i decided to upload the whole package for you on here as well. if you only want to hear one song for a start, my favorite right now is 'under your spell'.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

you have probably heard on some other blogs or myspace or wherever that there's a little boots remix by discodust darlings the golden filter. i have spent a lot of my precious time to dig up this remix as no one wanted to share it with me. not little boots, not the golden filter, not her management and not her label. but here it finally is, in 320 kbps and i think i couldn't imagine a more hot hot hot combination in my mind - come on, the golden filter and little boots at once! wet dreams!

and i'll just ignore this final paragraph today. you know the drill by now. show the golden filter some myspace love, show little boots some myspace love, save all your money for future releases from them, keep on reading discodust, send me job offers, worship me, love me.
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fm attack is the dreamy vintage synth new romantic wave italo disco dreamwave (yes, we are still looking for the official name for this 'genre') side-project by deep house producer and dj shawn ward who was discovered and signed by no one else than tiga for his very own turbo recordings.

inspired by his mother's eighties record collection as well as plain love and passion for the sound of analog synthesizers, shawn started fm attack and is definitely giving valerie and lifelike some heavy competition now!

Friday, April 10, 2009

circlesquare probably needs no introduction any more after the remixes for his single 'hey you guys' by the juan maclean and mickey moonlight have been played like everywhere recently. and their excellent choice in remixers doesn't stop there - discodust favorites russ chimes and anoraak teamed up for an all-stars remix for 'dancers' and as we've all come to expect, it's the usual high quality from team valerie.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

vincent & genevieve from london and paris are liquid vega and they have totally blown me away with their song '100 degrees' which is nothing but the most beautiful and melancholic piece of music that i have heard in ages. their sound is probably best described as salem and chromatics holding hands - which might be a bit unfair to say as it seems like it's questioning liquid vega's originality but that's not at all what i want to say.

anyway, you should just hear them for yourself, i won't find words that do them justice and just want to be left alone and keep admiring them now.

by ways of tim chester (who seems to love being one step ahead of me, with a passion) over at the daily download comes this dubbed out twisted switch remix of bjork. not sure why this is just popping up now as the original song has been out like half a year ago but even if switch did it centuries ago, it's still so far out there that all of us probably won't 'get it' for quite a while. either way, dave taylor once again proves that he is one of the best producers of our time.

his rework of 'let me be me' by audio bullys is up here right now and i bet this hard hitting electro house stormer can cause some serious mayhem on the floors out there! enjoy another discodust first and for good measure, we've also got jaymo's original track 'tuned in live' and a stunning 'sixty tracks in five minutes' minimix jaymo & andy george did for annie mac's mash up. don't miss any of them!

it really seems like france is the home to the majority of nowadays' vintage synthesizer wizards and they just keep getting better. crj from paris backs up this thesis by enchanting us with his carefully crafted cover of 'ivory tower' by giorgio moroder (originally released on the soundtrack to the neverending story) and nails it down with his beautiful original track 'loverider' featuring thomas dorian. enjoy both tracks in full 320kbps dolby surround!

obedient ed banger records fanboys should already know the irish producer-duo arveene & misk from their recently released remix for 'erreur jean' by mr. oizo. the good kids over at funkism unearthed their original track 'hells bells' which is a straight-forward club banger with pitch bent arpeggiated leads, deep bass and the occassional old school piano stab. sounds like a winner? fuck yes!

ain't nothing stopping crookers. their remix for kid cudi finally got picked up by the sleepyheads in the industry after they discovered this crazy new thing called fidget-house. in the meantime, crookers are already busy on pushing their sound further and this remix for 'boom da' by mixhell featuring jen lasher and oh snap!! will definitely bring some booty shaking galore to the floors! check it out right here!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

toronto-based one-man casio power-pop-army goldengirls should have been featured on here ages ago but i guess regular readers (and especially those guys who sent me their great tracks) know the deal by now, half of the tracks i want to post never show up here because they get lost somewhere on the way.

i am glad that i didn't sleep this time around because goldengirls just dropped his new track 'do the criminal' along with remixes by ccenturiess and designer drugs and you can't afford to miss any of the three versions!

the hundred in the hands are a brooklyn-based post-punk boy-girl-band who proved to have excellent taste by hitting up disco editor in chief jacques renault for a remix. he turns their original 'dressed in dresden' into an all stripped-down laidback plastic dream of an early morning dancefloor brightener. even more than that, internal research papers from the secret discodust laboratories reveal that 'undressed in dresden' is also an awesome song to ease the pain of sunday noon hangovers.

scandal! while i haven't been paying attention for a minute, the evil forces from pitchfork, stereogum and gorilla vs. bear captured discodust residents the golden filter and their three remixes for london's latest and greatest pop sensation polly scattergood. gasp! so i had no other choice than pick up the pieces that were scattered across and serve all of them at once right here for you now!

you will love kennedy from california. and the weird thing is that although he is associated with warner and already had a couple of his tunes used in flicks of the american pie and national lampoon's series, i have never heard of him before.

kennedy blends yesterday's disco with today's production and laces the tracks with surf-flavoured uplifting vocals. in a world where everything makes sense, kennedy should already have heavy radio airplay by now but obviously no one felt like making some serious promotion for him yet, so i guess we'll have to go and see what the blogs can do.

i am not even sure how old or new or released or unreleased these tracks are but 'karate' seems like a perfect french house-flavoured summer jam (reminding me of phoenix) which will definitely get the girls dancing on the floor and 'john and yoko' features the former blog house princess yelle, has some heavier guitars and real heavy and driving percussions. lighten up your day!

Friday, April 03, 2009

i have recently noticed a really frightening tendency in my music listening habits. while i have still got love for everything disco- and retro-related, electro and everything that has got heavy bass, i find myself listening to more indie, rap and (now comes the scary part) techno lately. mainly out of love for tracks from people like style of eye, popof and joe and will ask?, i am feeling more and more tunes lately because techno as a whole seems to be moving away from minimal tracks that just put me to sleep to more thrilling tunes with actual peaks, catchy melodies and complex percussion patterns.

so i was excited to have this remix for delphic's 'counterpoint' in the mail, done by the chain who are the latest signing on the recently reborn legendary techno label r&s records (who are the home of delphic as well).

the chain's first release featuring the tracks 'letting go' and 'geo' just dropped on beatport, being 'a big nod towards the early nineties but balanced with large doses of contemporary production to keep them moving in the right direction', so the one-sheet says and that's perfectly right. so get in the mood with their 'counterpoint' remix and check their actual release right afterwards!

and while we're on it, you should definitely hear the original track by delphic as well which is a great piece of synth-laden indie rock. or maybe dreamy rocking indie pop. whatever, it's awesome and girls love it!

quite some heavy bass action tonight. our friends from jack beats are back with a new remix as well, this time putting their magic touch on 'this kiss' by radio key player kissy sell out which is most likely going to drop on his very own label san city high.

with their driving trademark wobble basslines and an ecstatic breakdown, this track is yet another sure shot by jack beats. and just in case you already picked this track up elsewhere: this one is 320 kbps!

i wonder if ac slater ever sleeps as he seems to be one of the most wanted remixers these days. his latest work is a remix for 'go get it' by sepalot, released on traditional german label compost records. sepalot is a german dj and producer from munich who is part of one of germany's most successful rap crews called blumentopf who have been around since 1996.

the original 'go get it' was a track on sepalot's album 'red handed' which is an electronic flavoured hip hop album including features by berlin diva miss platnum and brooklyn-based rapper saigon, you should definitely check that out! but first of all, go and play that ac slater remix loud!

here's a new remix by discodust favorite foamo who got busy on the new single 'forced' by fellow uk producer, singer, songwriter, dj, remixer (gasp) cagedbaby (pictured above). this time it's a lot more melodic, versatile and not all that heavy bass-driven as you've come to expect from foamo (more like what you'd expect to hear from fake blood) but this just proves he is steadily evolving, moving forward and is definitely here to stay - big tune!